London Photographers' Branch

We are pleased to welcome back branch member and multi-award winning photojournalist Edmond Terakopian. Most notably he was awarded third place for Spot News in the prestigious World Press Photo awards and named Photographer of the Year in the British Press Awards. Edmond remains at the cutting edge of technology, choosing tools which help tell stories in a multitude of ways. This presentation offers an insight into shooting video with DSLRs; a set of skills becoming increasingly important in our rapidly evolving workplace.

PLEASE NOTE: this month we are reversing the usual order of our meeting. Edmond will be speaking at 7.00pm, AFTER regular branch business, which will start promptly at 6.00pm.

The agenda for the first part of the meeting will include an election for the vacant post of branch vice-chair.

6.00pm Tuesday 28th May, Headland House, 308 Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1X 8DP

As ever more local newspapers close and titles merge, more and more communities are left without a local media outlet, feeding a sense that local media is undergoing a slow but inevitable death.

But there are examples across the British Isles, the US and elsewhere that tell a different story, one in which local media still has a place, in which good journalism can still be funded and where the definition of viability is set by the needs of the community for news, not the needs of the balance sheet of a paper’s ownership group.

The NUJ, Co-operatives UK and Carnegie UK Trust have joined together to organise a series of meetings across the UK to analyse the issues and showcase these alternatives.

The series kicks off on Monday 3 June at 18.00 at the NUJ Headland House in London, followed by meetings around the country.

Speakers:

Anne-Marie Sanderson, Chief Photographer at North London and Herts News and NUJ London Photographers’ Branch committee member

Paul Wood, managing director of the West Highland Free Press, the UK’s first employee-owned newspaper

Helen Goodman MP

Dave Boyle, author of ‘Good News: A Co-operative Solution to the Media Crisis’

Barry Fitzpatrick, NUJ deputy general secretary

The meeting is free to attend. To book please visit:  www.uk.coop/makethenews

There is a range of vacancies on NUJ Councils and the union is urging members to stand for election to decision making bodies.

More details here: http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=2879

At our April branch meeting we will be looking at changes being proposed to copyright law, and to the treatment of special procedure material (unpublished journalistic work, including photographs and video). More importantly we will discuss how these changes can be resisted by people working in lens based media.

Andrew Wiard from the London Photographers Branch will examine the changes to copyright law and explain what members can do in the run up to the legislation being heard in the House of Lords.

Katie Wheatley is head of criminal law at Bindmans Solicitors. She will explain how the proposed changes to legal protection given to journalistic material will make us more vulnerable to unwanted requests from the police. Also how to resist such demands.

John Toner from the National Union of Journalists Freelance Office will explain what the NUJ is doing about the proposals and the support that the union can give to members around these issues.

In the second part of the meeting we will be holding elections for the vacant posts of branch Chair and branch Welfare Officer, and dealing with other branch business matters.

6.00pm Tuesday 30 April, Headland House, 308 Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1X 8DP

With some major public gatherings likely to be in the news over the next ten days or so, LPB members may want to refresh their memories on their legal rights and responsibilities while working in public places. The guidelines we published in the run-up to the London Olympics last year is a good place to start, and include some useful emergency numbers: http://londonphotographers.org/2012/07/olympics-legal-guidelines/

A downloadable PDF version is here: http://londonphotographers.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/1207-Olympics-Guidelines-Final3.pdf

Branch Chair Jason Parkinson has resigned. An election for a new Chair will be held on 30 April 2013 at our regular Branch meeting in Headland House.  Nominations can be sent to the Branch Secretary (larry@larryherman.net) beforehand, or made at the meeting.

At our branch meeting on 26 March we will be discussing local newspapers and the problems faced by those of us who work for them. The discussion will be introduced by Barry Fitzpatrick, NUJ Deputy General Secretary, and Anne-Marie Sanderson, staff photographer at North London & Herts Newspapers in Enfield. It will take up the first hour of the meeting, and all still and video journalists, including non-members, are welcome to take part. If you work in one of London’s many local newspapers, please come along and share your experiences.

The second half of the meeting will include voting on nominations for the new Photographers’ Council, a report on the latest developments with the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill and copyright, and other branch business.

Working Collectives from London Photographers’ Branch on Vimeo.

Audio from the February London Photographers’ Branch meeting and discussion on Tuesday 26 February discussing working in collectives. Featuring three speakers, Zarina Holmes, Ross Domoney of Aletheia Photos and Guy Smallman from Reel News.

(This post, was originally posted on 8 March, but has been amended to make the nomination process clearer)

For the first time in its history, the NUJ is creating a nationally elected Photographers’ Council solely to look after the interests of lens-based journalists.

Like all the NUJ’s councils and committees, it will be made up of working journalists who give their time to help shape the NUJ to best serve its members.

The new council will have ten members and hold four meetings a year, some of which are likely to be through video-conferencing, and the others most likely in the NUJ building at Kings Cross in London.

The Council elected this year will run from April 2013 until DM 2014. Thereafter, the Council will be elected every two years, starting from DM 2014.

There are nine constituencies, each with one seat, except London, which has two. We are now calling for nominations for the two London seats.

Nominations must be made and agreed at a branch meeting. The LPB will be considering nominations at its meeting on 26 March, our last meeting before the deadline for nominations. Anyone wishing to stand must attend that meeting, or notify the Branch Secretary beforehand.

If you’d like to talk to someone about standing, email Nick McGowan-Lowe: nick@nml.uk.com.

More details here

Peter Tatchell said: “Standing as a leftwing Labour candidate who was pro-gay-rights and anti-racist, I was savaged by the tabloids and became a magnet for every right-winger, homophobe and fascist. The constituency was plastered with three foot-high hate graffiti, including ‘Tatchell is queer’ and ‘Tatchell is a n****r-lover’.”

The 1983 Bermondsey by-election is arguably one of the most homophobic elections in British history.  Since then LGBT people have achieved equal rights in law and there has been some societal change in attitudes but this year has seen controversial articles dealing with transgender issues. So we ask: “Has anything changed?”

In marking the 30th anniversary of the Bermondsey by-election this meeting will examine how the real life experience of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community are reported by the press and media.

A slideshow, 30 Years of LGBT Protest and Dissent, by NUJ photographers who have documented LGBT rights protests and demonstrations will be on shown on the night. NUJ Photographers who would like to summit pictures for the slideshow please contact Branch member Marc Vallée (marc@marcvallee.co.uk).

The meeting is open to all and there will be plenty of time for questions and contributions from the floor.